Elegant Dinner Party Recipes

Since we arrived in Paris, my husband Lulu and I have taken the opportunity to have romantic getaways in Europe and leave baby Aria with my parents. My parents are thrilled to get to have time alone with their granddaughter, and thankfully, so is Aria. As the crazy mom that I am, I've left a long list of instructions for my mom to ensure the happy well-being of my baby girl, and that includes what she eats. Ever since Aria started eating solid food, I've managed to feed her only homemade baby food. I use the term baby food loosely, since I only feed Aria food that I would also eat.

I've taught Maman one of Aria's favorite soups: roasted bell pepper soup. It's a healthy blend of lentils, brown rice and roasted bell peppers. When Lulu and I came home, there was still some soup left, so we all ate it as a first course. I garnished it with sweet basil and a drizzle of balsamic reduction. It's fantastic!

We just picked our last large batch of beets from the garden. I steamed the candy striped beets, red beets and golden beets and blended them with a mixture of bean and rice porridge (I used mung beans). I've started introducing new foods to my 9-month old baby Aria, and the natural sweetness from the beets works well for infants.

It's pretty nutritious and filling for adults too, so I served the same dish for the family dinner but with a twist. I added pistachio paste for extra flavor and coarsely crushed pistachios for crunch. And for the dinner presentation, I topped the thick soup with goat cheese-infused cream. Who said "baby" food can't be delicious?

There are still a few more days to enter the giveaway and maybe win a Teflon BBQ grill pan. All you need to do is enter your email address. I'll pick a winner on Monday, August 13th at 12AM. It's very easy to participate. Also make sure you're a fan of PhamFatale Facebook fan page and Teflon, or follow @phamfatalecom and @TeflonBrand and tweet about this giveaway. To make it easy, you can just copy and paste this tweet if you’d like: "The #giveaway is live! Enter to #win a BBQ grill pan from @phamfatalecom! What's your favorite meal to #grill?: http://bit.ly/MvWiVG" Good luck everyone!

The holiday season is the perfect time to prepare a pretty table filled with fancy dishes. Last year, Lulu and I spent the holidays with my parents in Paris. This year, I'm catching up and I'm preparing dinner for my husband's family. I have a vague idea of what the menu is going to be and if you're also still wondering what to prepare, I've gathered a few of my favorite holiday recipes. Enjoy!

Today's giveaway is a gift pack from John Kelly Chocolates. The company specializes in elevating fudge with the use of high-quality ingredients. The chocolate pieces are enormous, adding to the decadence of the product. The chocolate walnut bars, which are my favorite, are so dense and chocolate-y. I also enjoyed the hawaiian salted fudge bites. For a chance to gorge on all the fudgy goodness from John Kelly Chocolates, just enter on the 25 Days of Giveaways page.

Whenever we host parties, I always like to serve bite-size appetizers. For our most recent fete, I made small savory tartlets filled with mashed pumpkin and Butter Gold potatoes. For extra creaminess, I added crumbled goat cheese along with some sesame-flavored candied walnuts for crunch.

The wrapping was made of puff pastry, which I’ve also used for many other types of appetizers. Whatever filling you choose, these cute miniature appetizers are always a hit.

I’ve used the combination of beets and goat cheese several times, and I think that it works incredibly well. The color is so vibrant it only makes sense to use it as an appetizer. To brighten up the purée, I added marinated artichoke as a garnish and covered it in crumbled goat cheese as a hint of what’s inside. Just serve it in small shot glasses along with some tasty black sesame crackers, and you’ll have an easy appetizer that still brings the wow factor.

It also goes great alongside the hummus that I published yesterday, so mix and match and have fun!